Grooming Recognition and Prevention: What Organisations Need to Know

Grooming Recognition and Prevention: What Organisations Need to Know

Trigger warning: This article discusses topics related to grooming and child sexual abuse, which some readers may find distressing.

Understanding Grooming

Grooming refers to intentional behaviours that manipulate and control a child, their family, or support networks to facilitate child sexual abuse. It can occur both online and in person, often using strategies that appear normal or even caring. The intent behind grooming may include gaining access to a child, obtaining sexual material, building trust and compliance, or maintaining secrecy to avoid detection.

It is important to note that sexual abuse does not need to occur for grooming to have taken place, and perpetrators may abuse a child without grooming them first. Understanding grooming is the first step in prevention and early intervention. Further information about grooming can be found in this article.

How Grooming Occurs

Grooming often follows a pattern, though the stages may occur in any order and not all need to be present. Initially, the perpetrator may target a child who appears vulnerable, such as those who are socially isolated or marginalised. They then work to build trust, presenting as trustworthy, generous, or likeable, sometimes extending this attention to families or organisations as well.

As trust is established, the child may be gradually isolated from supportive family or friends, leaving the perpetrator in a position of influence. Grooming may then escalate to sexualisation, with the introduction of sexual content or discussions designed to normalise inappropriate behaviour. To maintain control, perpetrators often rely on secrecy, shame, blame, or coercion, which can culminate in sexual abuse online or in person.

The Six Stages of Grooming and Warning Signs Organisations Must Monitor

Grooming often unfolds through identifiable patterns, even if not all elements are present or occur in sequence:

Targeting: Groomers may look for children who appear vulnerable, those who are socially isolated, marginalised or who are experiencing difficulty at home.

Building Trust: Perpetrators often present as trustworthy, generous, and supportive, offering attention, gifts, or help that seems benign.

Isolation: They may work to create emotional dependence by subtly distancing the child from supportive peers or adults.

Sexualisation: Groomers introduce sexual themes slowly, normalising sexual talk, images or situations before escalating to more explicit activity.

Control: The use of secrecy, shame, coercion, or threats helps maintain compliance and silence.

Abuse: Eventually, grooming may culminate in sexual abuse, online or in person, though abuse is not required for grooming to have occurred.

Organisations need to be alert to changes in a child’s behaviour, such as increased secrecy, receiving sudden gifts, or displaying unusual online behaviours, as these may be early warning signs of grooming. A grooming behaviour recognition checklist can help staff differentiate between ordinary interactions and concerning patterns that may indicate grooming. Further information on how to recognise grooming can be found here.

Online vs In‑Person Grooming

Modern grooming transcends physical settings. While in‑person grooming may occur in schools, clubs, workplaces, or community groups, a significant proportion of grooming now involves digital platforms. Perpetrators use social media, gaming platforms, messaging apps, and encrypted communication channels to connect with children and bypass safeguards in organisational environments.

Online grooming can involve building a relationship over time, asking for personal
information, encouraging private communication outside monitored systems, or sharing sexual content. Organisations must understand how digital interactions intersect with their settings, especially in workplaces where staff and volunteers have online contact with children.

Understanding both online and in‑person grooming behaviours is essential for designing effective prevention strategies.

Prevention Through Training, Supervision, and Environmental Design

Prevention of grooming hinges on proactive measures. Organisations should embed child safety in their culture, equipping staff with grooming prevention training to recognise and respond to concerning behaviours early. This includes comprehensive induction and ongoing professional development tailored to the organisation’s context, including education, sport, community services, or faith‑based work.

Supervision and structured environments, both physical and digital, help reduce
opportunities for grooming. Clear codes of conduct, expectations for behaviour with children, and open lines of communication with families and carers foster transparency and trust.

Encouraging children and young people to speak up about uncomfortable interactions and educating them about safe online behaviour are also important elements of prevention.

Key prevention strategies include:

• Low-level concerns policies: Encourage staff to report small warning signs early
  before they escalate.
• Training and supervision: Grooming prevention training for staff ensures awareness of early warning signs and appropriate responses.
• Environmental design: Structured, observable, and safe physical and online
  environments reduce opportunities for grooming.
• Open communication: Encourage children and young people to speak up about discomfort or unsafe behaviours.

Legal Obligations in Victoria

In Victoria, legislative and regulatory frameworks provide clear obligations for organisations working with children:

1. Criminal Offences: Grooming

Under the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), grooming is a standalone criminal offence where an adult engages in predatory conduct to prepare a child for sexual activity. This includes communication or conduct with a child or with a person responsible for the child’s care, intending to facilitate future sexual activity.

2. Failure to Disclose and Failure to Protect

Victoria imposes criminal obligations on adults who reasonably suspect child sexual abuse, including grooming conduct. A person who fails to disclose this information to Victoria Police may commit an offence. Equally, adults in positions of authority who know there is a risk of child sexual abuse and do not take reasonable steps to reduce or remove that risk can be criminally liable.

3. Reportable Conduct Scheme

Organisations subject to the Reportable Conduct Scheme (RCS) (established under the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (Vic)) must report allegations of child abuse and misconduct, such as grooming or sexual misconduct, by employees or volunteers to the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP), and must investigate them under independent oversight.

4. Child Safe Standards

Victoria’s Child Safe Standards set compulsory expectations for organisations that provide services to children. These standards require organisations to embed child safety into their governance, policies, and practices, including staff training, risk identification (including online environments), clear codes of conduct, and accessible complaints handling processes. Standard 7 specifically focusses on processes for addressing and responding to complaints and concerns in a child‑focused way.

Legal Obligations Across Australian States and Territories

While Victoria’s framework is comprehensive and is often considered a national benchmark, obligations in other Australian jurisdictions also require organisations to be vigilant.

• New South Wales (NSW): Mandatory reporting laws require certain professionals to report suspected child abuse, including sexual abuse, to child protection agencies. NSW also has Reportable Conduct Scheme and criminal laws related to concealing serious offences.
• Queensland (QLD): Under the Child Protection Act 1999, mandated professionals must report suspected significant harm including sexual abuse to child safety services. Additionally, adults must report sexual offending against children to police. Further information can be found here.
• Western Australia (WA), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (TAS), Australian
  Capital Territory (ACT), and Northern Territory (NT): Each jurisdiction has
  mandatory reporting legislation that specifies who must report suspected child abuse and neglect and to which authority. Reporting duties vary, with NT generally having the broadest requirements.
• Commonwealth criminal law: The Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) includes
  provisions targeting online and cross‑jurisdictional child grooming and exploitation, penalising conduct that uses telecommunications to procure or groom children. Further information can be found here.

Organisations operating nationally or across state borders must understand the specific reporting and legal obligations in every relevant jurisdiction.

How Safe Space Legal Can Help?

Recognising grooming requires awareness of patterns and behaviours that may otherwise appear benign. Organisations in Victoria and across Australia must adopt proactive training, supervision, and environmental design that prioritises child safety and transparency.

Understanding and complying with legal obligations, criminal offences, mandatory reporting, the Reportable Conduct Scheme, and the Child Safe Standards protects children and strengthens organisational integrity.

The team at Safe Space Legal have extensive safeguarding experience. We have worked with many organisations across Victoria, and Australia, to ensure they are meeting their legal obligations and frequently conduct independent safeguarding investigations. We work with organisations to help build a culture of safety and accountability.

Safe Space Legal provides the following services to ensure organisations meet their legal obligations:

• Supporting organisations to have robust recruitment strategies to keep children and young people safe;
• Providing organisations advice on their legal obligations and compliance;
• Drafting best practice child safety policies, procedures and codes of conduct;
• Conducting gap analysis audits of critical incidents;
• Providing training on legal obligations, duty of care and child safety;
• Conducting child safety investigations which are compliant with relevant state and territory schemes; and
• Provide sound legal advice on risk mitigation.

Contact office@safespacelegal.com.au or call (03) 9124 7321 to organise a complementary discussion in relation to your organisation’s safeguarding needs.